Saturday, September 11, 2004

Storm storm storm!

That's the only thing that's really been on my mind this week. Or should I say Hurricane, Hurricane. Hurricane. Since last Sunday when I heard that this thing was heading towards Barbados I've become really familiar with the Hurricane tracking sites and the Weather Network site. Thank God for the internet though because regular media coverage of Ivan has been terrible in my opinion. Well maybe not terrible but they definitely weren't answering the questions that I wanted answered.

So from Sunday I've been checking the 3 hourly updates on Ivan. Watched as it sideswiped Barbados on Tuesday morning and felt a bit of relief as the damage wasn't that great and everyone I knew checked in saying they were ok. That sense of relief turned to dread though as Tobago and St Vincent got sideswiped and Grenada got wrecked. I mean what feeling are you supposed to have as you watch a destructive force of nature hit island after island.

How are you supposed to feel when 80,000 people are homeless, an economy destroyed and resources are scarce?

Then I figured ok looks like this thing is out to sea for a bit and what happens? It hooks toward Jamaica. So I'm still here one week later looking at internet reports on damage and first hand accounts from persons there waiting to hear if everyone's family is ok. This sucks.

For me its painful because although myself or family haven't suffered any loss directly in this storm I still feel the pain of close friends from other islands dealing with worry about relatives either before or after the hurricane hits. Folks from Grenada searching for loved ones and friends from Jamaica wondering if Gilbert a category 3 hurricane did so much damage in the 1980s how much more damage will this category 4 or 5 do if it hits the island directly.

I hope next week is a better one for the Caribbean.

Oh today is the anniversary of 9/11. Rest in peace to those who died but for now, no disrespect, but my thoughts are more with the living dealing with hurricane Ivan.

2 comments:

It has always been hard dealing with such known destruction but what is often harder is the lack of reason, the total emptiness in the fairness column and the granite hard and cold stoic "events happen and all you can do is accept that". I think all of us would like to be some kind of super powered hero able to battle storms or anything physical just to know we were making a difference.

It's hard to live through a disaster. It's hard to watch one. They are simply a hard part of life and I am devoid of answers save that what defines us as humans is not what we do, what we conquer or how we overcome but it is how we respond to that which is beyond our power.